As for the website I’ve been mentioning, I decided to go with a wordpress installation combined with buddypress so all the DCP members can talk to each other easily and with necessary secrets. the only issue that remains is a character system, and I’m drawing a bit of a blank on it.

I’m also head storyteller for next year’s mainstage game, which should be pretty cool; we’re setting it in 1931 Chicago, and all the awesomeness that comes with it. for example, I have a cool idea for corruption mechanics within vampire society. we’ll see how that goes.

I’ve also been steadily acquiring new rulebooks, since im a pretty big fan of different settings and created worlds. its still coming along, but im fairly happy with the progress. I know ebooks are cheaper, but they’re not as easy to read, in my opinion, so i’m trying to get at least a few real books to accompany the ebooks i already have. for example, i’m getting the core of each new world of darkness book, but using all the supplementary books just on the computer. i don’t really need books detailing each clan or tradition or organization. certain other supplements i will be getting, especially if they offer something new. I’m getting the book of the dead from geist, for one, and i already have another book which i should be keeping secret .

I finally got my lease turned in for an apartment next year, i have to say, leases are not nice things to be reading through. it seems like we have to give up a lot of rights in order to get an apartment.

exalted game this weekend! im excited, i think theres a lot of cool stuff in the system, though combat seems weird.

i’ve got more to say, but i should try and space out my updates a little, so i’ll bring them up later. stuff about GMing mostly.

this site better get some damned use going, im still not exactly sure how to rock the character database, since im not much of a coder. we’ll see, i suppose

In my own masochistic ways, I decided to write my paper, which was broadly prompted as “explain the book in a new and interesting way”, on The Crying of Lot 49, by everyone’s favorite reclusive post-modernist author, Thomas Pynchon. So while I did enjoy reading the book, in all its chaotic and weird glory, I’m really not sure how best to explain the book itself, especially in that new and interesting way. I’m at the moment leaning towards a view of the novel, where everything is hypersaturated with meaning, as opposed to other interpretations which see it as devoid of meaning and banal (not to seem pretentious or anything, but its hard to write literary critique without sounding banal).

The problem is, that while I feel that there’s a meaning hidden behind the events of the novel, I’m not at all sure what exactly those meanings are. They’re present within the novel, I’m sure, but are they only readily apparent to the reader? or can Oedipa see them as well? Oedipa does wonder whether her knowledge of the whole Trystero conspiracy is in fact true, or whether she’s just making it up to give her something interesting in her life, which lends credence to the latter question, but it doesn’t quite explain if she can see any of the symbolisms and subtexts, beyond the conspiracy itself. for example, does she see Metzger, Hilarius, or Genghis Cohen as just people she has to interact with, or does she see them as obstacles in her part or guides to the final truth? for that matter, it’s not exactly clear to the reader either which way they act, if they are truly meant to be symbolic of something.

So yeah, I’m probably not going to have fun parsing out symbolism and meaning in this book (I’m already predicting a good amount of bullshit, but thats a prerequisite for literary papers, isn’t it?), and I might tie in some connection to Joseph Conrad and the Hero’s Journey, since they both involve the overarching and world-important quest. I might also bring in Joker from Batman, since one of the interpretations of the character is the hyperactive interpretation of reality, which might relate to Oedipa. Whatever though, I’m tired, and I’m just going to end up spending hours over this keyboard, writing the paper mostly in the one day before it’s due. wish me luck.

Hell if know who’s going to be reading this, but i’m going to do my best to update this thing. Someone might care, but at the very least, I’m posting this for myself. so dig on it.

I was hoping to put a bit more into this first post, but i really should be doing my homework right now, so I’ll get something legit put up later.